“While she looks at you so cooly, and her eyes shine like the moon in the sea, she comes in incense and patchouli, so you take her, to find what’s waiting inside, the year of the cat. AL STEWART.
It was not until last week when I went to Vienna with a girlfriend that I bothered to really try the Coromandel EdP. It fell into the “it cannot possibly be better than the EdT, oh my gosh what did Chanel do?” category.
The service and knowledge in the stand-alone Chanel beauty store in Vienna is excellent. Totally welcoming, you can spray everything, and all of the parfum extraits are out to try. (That has not been my experience in the Chanel Boutiques, you know, the ones that have security on the door, and take your backpack when you walk in.) We were sprayed top to bottom with Le Lion and Coromandel, each given both perfumes in the cute mini form, and sent off to breakfast and truck around town whilst the fragrances settled. Who knew if we would even go back? I also grabbed a few drops of the Coromandel Extrait and off we went.
My girlfriend knew before exiting the store that she would be back for Le Lion. We returned in due course, and she made the purchase. We both received more cute minis, and as the fabulous SA said, one can never have too many. I was enjoying the Coromandel EdP, but not enough to justify buying it, I still have the EdT after all.
I came home and spent the next four days wearing the EdP. Well well. It is much smoother than the screechy EdT. Screechy does not mean I don’t like it, I love it. But it can be wearing on the nose. Several years ago Tara and I tried a number of the EdPs in the store in Covent Garden. My Coromandel impressions at the time were that they had taken the incense out, an integral part. Uhm, nope. So I never bothered again.
Fast forward five years. The incense is there, but in the base notes, and to my nose it was in the heart notes of the EdT. Therein lies a really big difference. The EdP is not as tenacious and what is not to love about a rich patchouli, benzoin, and incense base? Infinitely more wearable, not as tenacious, divine dry down. Chanel Patch don’tcha know?
I WhatsApped Chanel Vienna and ordered a bottle. Two days later I had it. WhatsApp? Of course, Why? How do you order your Chanel?
CQ
*Yep, Chanel here have a WhatsApp number. I’m screwed. Thank you Peter.
A Bottled Rose 
I need to try the edp. I have the edt and find it overwhelming, and thus rarely reach for it.
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It is overwhelming. Tenacious. Sharp. I need to be in the right mood to love it. The EdP is quite quite different. Definitely worth a try. It dries down to a beautiful head shop patchouli, the proper stuff. It‘s fabulous. The EdT is not.
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All perfume ordering should be this easy!
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It should be and maybe it will be one day. I mean Austria is small, and there is only one Chanel Beauty store, so I guess that makes it easy to do. But it is or might be really useful! xxx
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Goes to prove not all new formulations are bad. When it comes to patch, you would know.
I think ordering via WhatsApp is tres cbich.
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The thing is we, or I, need to just base my like or not like on whatever perfume I am smelling, and not comparing it to a previous version. Actually I do do that most of the time, as you know I have zero interest in vintage. Thing is with the Chanels is it was really the first collection of perfumes to change in”my time”, meaning I knew the orginal versions pretty well. And that most definitely affected my giving the edp versions a chance. Although I did buy the N°18 edp. Whatever. Here we are. xxxx
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Love that you’ve fallen for the EdP Val.
Remember we also retried them all in London a few years back. Interesting that you’ve come around, that it’s possible to do so. It gives me hope in case I ever finish a bottle.
Harrod’s had a coffret of the complete 200ml EdT set which I’m now kicking myself I didn’t buy. Oh well. It’s not like I need more perfume.
Portia x
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Right Portia. You would have needed that set like a whole in your head. I would imagine that if you looked very hard around your stash, you would probably come up with most of them anyway. Yep, never say never. The edp is great. xxxxxxxx
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Cough Cough Cough
Uncomfortable silence
Yeah, don’t have to look far. They’re on my grab tray.
YOU are great.
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No shit Sherlock. Why am I not surprised? 💋
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I fell in love with Coromandel EDT first, and then ordered the EDP when it became available. My nose isn’t as discerning as yours, I didn’t detect the differences and nuances as acutely as you described. I love them both. I tend to save Coromandel for special occasions and colder weather. It is my special scent memory for one of my heart dogs.
I’ll have to research What’sApp. There is not a Chanel boutique where I live, Iypically order on-line from Chanel.com.
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Oh I don´t think my nose is discerning? The edp is a lot softer and smoother than the EdT. But you know what? I will wear the EdT tomorrow and see again what I think. It just lasts forever and gives me nose fatigue. I never save anything for a special occasion, and love Coromandel in the heat! Patchouli is summer for me. But yeah, patchouli all year round! (It is a special scent for me too, I bought the EdT with Portia, in Vienna, on the day that we met. A story that has been told many times.) Talking of patchouli I have just order 7.5 mls of the Arquiste Misfit. Blind. It is a patchouli scent and just won Indie Fragrance of the Year (I ordered it before this happened though.) I ma so excited — bring it on!! xxxx
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I am now inspired to wear the EDT and EDP and give it a proper comparison, thank you! I will also try not to save perfume for special occasion, I need to work on this!
Arquiste Misfit now on my radar 🙂
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Just wear it all the time. No need for a special occasion. Besides, this pandemic is a non-stop occasion – so go mad!!! I will let everyone know about the Arquiste, good or not. Blind buy excitement building, but they have not posted it yet. I assume a weekend in the way is the reason. 🙄
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i bought Arquiste Ella as a blind buy based on reviews, when it was released and love it. I will need to find Misfit, sounds like a perfume I’d enjoy.
Agreed; we learned from the past year to enjoy what we can and when we can. Things can change quickly and no need for a special occasion. Thanks for the reminder Val!
Have you heard of Maison Violet? An old perfume house from 1827 that disappeared in the mid 1950s. A few young perfume school students resurrected it and reproduced some of the historical fragrances. There is one called Sketch with amber and patchouli that sounds very well-done.
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Yeah I have heard of Maison Violet, quite a bit actually. But not tried anything. I will look at Sketch, do not know it! Thanks. xxx
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I think I have a Coromandel sample somewhere which I must revisit. Unfortunately it doesn’t have a label, so I may be some time! I have communicated once by tweet to a rail company, and remember thinking that was a very modern mode of comms at the time.
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Don’t bother. I will hopefully see you before you ever locate it. I l love Twitter and it is my favourite of all the social medias to scroll through. Still a great place to communicate. xxx
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I had an awful experience in that shop : they simply ignored me ! After being invisible for 10 minutes I left without buying the present I came for…
So I had to get a different one : Varanasi by Meo Fusciuni (current obsession).
A pity though I didn‘t know you were in town…
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I did not know I was gonna be in town. It was really short. We can hook up later in summer. Really? That is awful. Totally opposite to my experiences there. I would have left too —— I am Googling Varanasi, I do not know it, and love to know current obsessions! xxx
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Congratulations on the new bottle! I’m glad that you came around and have more of this perfume to wear, even if in a slightly (?) different version.
I have a decant of the EdT. I like it very much, and I don’t remember being overwhelmed by it (though, I also wear it only in colder weather). But since it’s not love-love to me, I’m open to trying the newer version once I’m done with the decant.
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Quite different. More than slightly, less than totally. Hahahahaha. I will share the bottle with my daughter. Interesting that a number of people like it in colder weather. I am absolutely patchouli and/or incense in the heat. xxx
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I only have the original Coromandel in the EDT version so I can’t make a comparison. I order all my Chanels directly from the Chanel website. I live in the USA and usually receive them within 2 days, whereas if I order something from a department Store in the States, it takes over a week for me to receive it.
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